BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRIME MINISTER and Minister of Finance Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris has debunked the suggestion that the benefits received by individuals from the Social Security Scheme would be downscaled by 40 percent.
Dr. Harris – who appeared today (Sept. 7) on WINNFM 98.9’s ‘VOICES’ programme – described the suggestion as a falsehood and as mischief.
“There has been no proposal that has come neither to the Board of the Social Security nor to the Cabinet of St. Kitts and Nevis that would require or call for a 40 percent adjustment or cutback, as he put it, in payments to any beneficiary of the Social Security Scheme. Again, that would be a nonsense talk and we must dismiss it for the mischief that is attempting to create.
“The actuary report, to my recollection, makes no reference to any cut and the actuarial report of the Social Security Board would be made public.”
He said some of the previous actuarial reports for the Social Security Board have mentioned or proposed an upward movement in the age of retirement, or the age at which persons become pensionable.
“The normal things are in the Social Security Actuarial Report and the review is done every three years…But the report will speak to things about adjusting the age for pension and on matters like that. And if you go back the last three reports, those are things…are there. The actuarial would say when you look across the landscape of social security payments in the Caribbean region and beyond, that the average payment rate is about 65 in terms of pension…in our context it’s 62.
“And so that reality, even the actuary, has come to grips on and has recommended that if you were to adopt that recommendation, one would consider still maintaining the option for persons to claim their benefits at 62 but at a reduced rate. Will the full pension become payable at 65?”
The Prime Minister said that on that particular issue, a decision would have to be made by the executive arm of Government even before action is taken by the Legislature. He echoed however that there has been no recommendation to reduce benefits derived from the Social Security Scheme by 40 percent.
“And so that is a reasonable approach to addressing that. That decision has not yet been made by the Cabinet and the Cabinet will have to make a judgment on that before that goes to the Parliament, because we believe that there will be some consultation with respect to the report from the actuary. But there is, I repeat, no recommendation to the best of my recollection, has ever come for a 40 percent reduction in benefits that people are now receiving. Indeed, in the said report there is a recommendation that some of the payments ought to be revisited upwards…”
